


Needs More Sonic

by AllThoseOtherWorlds



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: Academy Era, Friendship, Gen, Nonbinary Character, Other, Sonic Screwdriver, The Doctor is nonbinary and the Master is female, but it's not relevant to the story - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-06
Updated: 2015-10-06
Packaged: 2018-04-25 01:56:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4942198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllThoseOtherWorlds/pseuds/AllThoseOtherWorlds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, 'ooh, this could be a little more sonic?'"<br/>"What, never been bored? Never had a lot of shelves to put up?"</p><p>The story of how the Doctor made a friend - and along the way, invented a new type of screwdriver.</p><p>Academy era, with Theta/Koschei friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Needs More Sonic

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who. I do not make money from this.
> 
> Theta is the Doctor and Koschei is the Master.
> 
> Comments are wonderful and constructive criticism is appreciated.

The Academy of the Time Lords was a massive complex of buildings, with many students and many teachers. Those who attended were focused, serious, and generally good, rule-abiding citizens of Gallifrey.

Well, most of them.

———

Theta sighed. It was their first day at the Academy - their first real day, since the night before had been initiation. A chance to gaze into the time vortex itself, to see the vastness of eternity and all it had to offer. It was wonderful. It was terrifying. It had been simultaneously the best and worst experience of Theta’s short life thus far.

They’d run away, like a fair portion of their new classmates had done, but not, perhaps, for the same reasons.

It wasn’t because the vortex was terrifying, although it was. It wasn’t because of the immensity of it, and the emptiness of eternity, although that was certainly part of the experience. No, it was because, looking at the representation of everything the Time Lords stood for - the very thing which made them Time Lords - Theta couldn’t help but remember that they didn’t really belong here.

They knew they didn’t - they were probably the only student here from an orphanage, and they knew that their entrance scores were decent (they’d gotten in, after all) but they weren’t at the top of the bunch by any means. Nobody had really thought that Theta - Theta, who never really made many friends, who cried themselves to sleep more nights than they’d like to admit, who wanted to know everything except what people tried to teach them in class - would get accepted at the Academy.

Theta still wasn’t quite sure why they were here, but they were glad for the opportunity.

Even if it wasn’t looking like they’d really make many friends here, either.

———

Koschei frowned, pushing her hands into her skull and hoping that the painkillers she’d taken would kick in soon. It was just a headache. It had to be, right? They’d warned everyone that looking into the time vortex could have negative side effects, but she’d been assured that it wouldn’t be anything lasting.

_Thump-Thump-Thump-Thump._

She hissed out a swear word 8-year olds were probably not supposed to know and gave up on looking for people she recognized. There probably wasn’t anyone anyway - she’d come from a well-off family, yes, but most of her peers weren’t interested in attending the Academy. Koschei wasn’t entirely sure why she’d attended herself - it felt more like a necessity than a goal. She felt almost as though she were being compelled into it without understanding why - not that she’d told anyone that. They already thought she was unusual - too opinionated, too mischievous - and they didn’t need any more ammunition to level against her.

“Hello.”

She jumped, realizing that in her daze she’d sat down at one of the lunch tables. It was empty save for one student, a first-year like herself.

“Oh, hi,” she said. “I’m Koschei.” It wasn’t her real name, of course - those were kept secret, at least until the child was of age. After that it was up to the individual. Names were important, and each person had to decide for themselves what to do with that power.

“I’m Theta,” the other student informed her. “Are you okay? You were sort of staring off into the distance for a while.”

“Fine,” Koschei said. “Just still a bit out of it from the initiation, I suppose.”

Theta nodded. “Yeah, I’m worn out too. You went after me, right? I, uh… wasn’t there for that.”

“Right,” she nodded. “You bolted.” At the look on Theta’s face she added, “a lot of students did that. About half, I think - I went all the way at the end.”

“What did you do?” Theta asked.

It wasn’t a question people were really supposed to ask, but they didn’t sound at all malicious. Still, it put her in an awkward position. Did she trust Theta with the truth?

“I didn’t run, but it was a close call,” she said. “It was terrifying. ‘Inspired’ is not the word I would use to describe my experience.”

It wasn’t a lie, exactly, but it certainly wasn’t the whole truth, either. Koschei didn’t feel even a hint of guilt over the deception. Theta was nice, and she didn’t want to ruin her reputation with something that would almost certainly get back to her parents.

At least it seemed like she’d made a new friend.

———

As the years passed, a pattern developed in their friendship. They were both troublemakers, but  Theta was usually the one talking their way out of trouble while Koschei dug her way in deeper, trying to see what would happen. She wanted to test the limits, to see what she was capable of. Theta usually ended up in trouble by accident, always letting their curiosity get the better of them until they were neck-deep in some sort of mess and too persistent to just let it go.

Despite their differences, they were both adventurous and nosy and generally considered a menace by the rest of the Academy.

The adventures were fun, and Theta was always going to remember the time they accidentally (no, really - it was a complete accident!) ended up in the Academy’s Secret Vault, and had to escape before they were caught and/or killed. They still had the burn marks.

The best days, though, were the ones spent peacefully, out on the land Koschei’s father owned. It was a massive field of grass, bordered by forest on three sides. Nobody used it for anything - Theta wasn’t actually sure Koschei’s father knew it existed - and it became their secret place. At first, they made games to play, collecting leaves and throwing them into the sky to watch them glitter as they fell. They raced and wrestled and collected flowers and, most of all, they talked.

At first, they spoke only of commonplace things - what they were learning at the Academy, what gossip they’d heard about their classmates - but as the years went on their conversations grew deeper. They spoke of what they wanted from life, of how boring and confining it was here on Gallifrey. They spoke of other planets, of the adventures they’d have there. They spoke of their lives outside of the Academy, of Theta’s life at the orphanage and Koschei’s family, and of many other things of varied importance.

One day, when they were laying side by side on the grass and staring up at the sky, they spoke of the future.

“Do you think it’s worth it?” Theta asked, without looking at their friend.

“Do I think what’s worth it?” came the reply.

“All of this,” Theta waved their hand aimlessly in the air above them. “Life at the Academy. We’ll be here for a long time, longer than most people are at school. I want to be out there-” and here they gestured to the sky above them, clear and burnt-orange- “exploring the universe! I want to be learning about what’s out there, not memorizing a list of things Rassilon has named after himself.”

Koschei smiled. “Not enjoying history class, then?” she teased.

Theta just groaned in reply, and she grew serious again. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “But if this is what it takes to get out there, I suppose it has to be worth it in the end. Unless you want to start a revolt, take over Gallifrey, and change the system, I suppose.”

“Not me, thanks,” Theta said. “I wouldn’t want to run Gallifrey. Too much responsibility.” They sighed. “I suppose I’ll have to just stick with it after all.”

“Suit yourself,” Koschei said. “But when I take over and reform things, I promise to keep you in mind.”

“Thanks,” Theta said, smiling. “And you’ll always be welcome to travel with me.”

———

“So, what do you think?” Koschei asked, gesturing at the boxes around her.

“Why do they have to be dead?” Theta asked, wrinkling their nose. “They were perfectly lovely outside in the fields.”

“Well, I can’t collect them if they’re out in the fields, can I?” Koschei asked. “It’s a bug collection, not a zoo.”

“A zoo would be cooler,” Theta said, but she could tell they weren’t really angry. A bit irritated, perhaps, but not angry. She smiled, listening idly to the drumbeat that always lay under her thoughts. It was maddening, and soothing, and triumphant all at once, and although it never went away, she could feel it more strongly at some times than others. She had never told anyone else about the drumming, not even Theta - a little subtle poking around had determined that nobody ever had this sort of reaction to the Schism, and it wouldn’t do to be singled out for it and examined.

Besides, she sort of liked it. It made her feel energized and powerful, and she thought she’d miss it if it were gone.

“Koschei?” Theta’s voice pulled her out of her musings and she blinked a few times before returning her attention to her friend. “Koschei, are you okay?”

“Yeah, fine,” she muttered, pushing the drumming back enough to focus on Theta. “So, you don’t like my collection?”

“Not really, no,” they replied. That was one of the things she liked about Theta - they were a good liar, and could hide the truth like no other, but if you asked for an opinion, they gave it to you honestly.

“Okay,” she said. “What would you collect, if you had to pick something?”

“Oh, you know,” they said. “This and that. Probably a lot of gadgets. Screwdrivers, medical scanners, telepathic interface units…”

“So, spare parts and random tools?” She smiled. “Only you, Theta, would want to collect junk.”

Theta huffed. “ _I_ _’m_ not the one who has a collection of dead bugs,” the reminded her. “At least my stuff would be useful.”

“If you say so,” she said. “But I think I’ll stick with my bug collection. You, on the other hand-” she pointed at Theta- “You should start a junk collection, if it interests you.”

“Maybe I will,” they said, smiling.

Koschei liked it when Theta smiled. They didn’t smile nearly often enough.

———

“What is all this?” Theta asked, stepping cautiously into Koschei’s usually spotless room. Theta was never sure if Koschei was actually this good at keeping things clean or if she was just good at talking other people into cleaning it for her, but the room always perfectly tidy - in sharp contrast to Theta’s room, which was a well-organized disaster.

Except that now their roles were reversed, because Theta had just cleaned their room this morning and Koschei’s room looked like something had exploded.

Well, it was Koschei. Maybe something _had_ exploded.

“Oh,” Koschei hopped over a box as she made her way to the far end of the room. “I’m moving all my stuff to a different room.”

No explosions then. That was probably for the best.

“What’s wrong with this room?” Theta asked, looking around.

“Nothing, really,” Koschei told him, “but I thought it might be nice to switch things up a little.”

“Really?” Theta was skeptical. It wasn’t beyond Koschei to move all her stuff on a whim, but usually she’d be trying to get someone else to do it for her (other than Theta, who’d help but who knew Koschei too well to be tricked into doing the whole thing).

“No,” she admitted. “Father wanted to set up some sort of art piece in here. He said something about the window angle and the lighting and I don’t know.” She huffed out an angry breath and kicked the box nearest to her. “Either way, it means _I_ have to move all my stuff to a different room.”

“Oh.” Theta perched on an end-table that had yet to be dismantled. “I could help?”

“Thanks,” Koschei said. “I think mostly it’s moving boxes and assembling furniture. It could take a while, because my _father_ -” she kicked the box again, “-won’t help me move stuff.” She sighed and looked around. “I think there’s probably a toolbox around here somewhere, with a screwdriver or something, but I have no idea where.”

Theta thought for a moment, then hopped off the table, mind already rushing ahead. “I’ll be right back,” they told her. “Just give me a minute. Or more. Possibly an hour.”

And with that they were off, leaving behind a bemused and slightly calmer Koschei.

———

“Here it is!”

Koschei looked up from the box she’d just put down, frowning as she examined the strange device in Theta’s hand.

“What _is_ that?” She asked. “It looks like some strange fusion of a speaker, a pen, and… is that a telepathic interface?”

“It’s a screwdriver,” Theta said. “But, sonic.”

“You made a sonic screwdriver?” she asked. “For putting up the shelves?”

“Yup,” they said. “Watch.”

They spent the next several hours putting up shelves while Koschei moved in all the boxes and put her stuff away. She had to admit, it did the job. Even if it did look a little like it was going to fall apart.

“Thanks,” she said, when they were done. “That was pretty handy.”

“You’re welcome,” Theta told her, looking around at the assembled objects. “Honestly I’m surprised it worked. It’s built of scrap I found left over in the lab rooms.”

“Is that why those rooms have actually been clean recently?” Koschei asked. “I knew it couldn’t have been the professors cleaning up their own mess.”

“We have an agreement,” Theta said, examining their new invention. “D’you think there’s room for a medical scanner in this?” they mused.

“Do you think you’ll need one?” she asked. “Why not put a laser in it or something instead?”

“Oh,” they scoffed, “Because we’ll _definitely_ be needing one of those.”

“I don’t know,” she said. “It could come in handy. You could make sculptures with it or something.”

“No lasers,” they said. “But possibly a flashlight, or a pulse emitter, or something.”

“Well, have fun,” Koschei said. “Maybe it’ll come in handy someday.”

Theta grinned. “You never know.”


End file.
